Universally Monstrous - The Mummy
by darnedchild
Summary: "I must admit I'm surprised you managed to secure authorization for me to see the mummy." - It's Sherlolly Halloween. This year I'm playing around with short ficlets loosely based off the classic Universal Monsters.


**A/N** : I started the Universally Monstrous series during last year's Sherlolly Halloween, but due to health reasons I only finished three of the nine Classic Universal Monsters. I finished Frankenstein earlier in 2019, so let's see if I can get the other five done for 2019 Sherlolly Halloween.

Not beta'd probably, because I keep forgetting to send these things out for edits before they're due.

**Universally Monstrous **

**The Mummy**

"I must admit I'm surprised you managed to secure authorization for me to see the mummy." Sherlock sounded rather impressed by her accomplishment.

The discovery of a bog mummy was a rare occurrence. To be given the opportunity to observe one that had just been excavated had been too good for Sherlock to refuse. When Molly had called with the news that the small hospital where her grandmother was recovering would be playing host to such a specimen, he'd bought a ticket to Denmark and flown out that very night.

"Technically, I haven't," Molly hissed. "Neither of us is supposed to be here; so I would appreciate it if you stopped talking about it in the hall where anyone could overhear you."

Sherlock stopped moving and grinned. "Just when I think I can't be any more attracted to you than I already am… God, I can't wait to get you back to the hotel."

Molly rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. Breaking the law always gets you hot and bothered."

"Blatantly untrue." He reached out and grabbed her hips, pulling her up against his chest. "I only react this way when I'm _bending_ the law with you, Mrs Holmes." He stressed the word bending, as if it would make a difference to the police should they get caught. Sherlock leaned down a pressed a kiss to the skin just below her ear.

"I'm sure John would be relieved to hear that," Molly teased.

He gently pushed her away with a grumbled, "And the moment is ruined." He gestured for her to continue walking. "If we don't have permission to see this thing, how are you planning to get us in?"

"I used to visit Nana for a few weeks every summer, and one of my good friends from back then is an orderly here. He's actually the one who let me know the mummy was being stored here for a few days until the museum could send a crew for it." She took a moment glance at the directional signs on the wall and then lead him down another hall. Molly lowered her voice to a near whisper. "Jarrod said he's pretty sure he can get us ten minutes to look at it. But absolutely no touching."

"What about-" Sherlock began.

"No. No touching."

He huffed like a spoiled child who had been denied a sweetie. Then his expression grew hard and he reached out to grab her wrist. "Stay here."

Molly froze in place. "What is it?" She tried to identify whatever it was that had triggered his switch to Detective Mode.

Then she saw it.

The only door on the right side of the hall was slightly ajar. Almost, but not quite, flush with the frame. As if something had kept it from closing all the way when it swung shut.

Once she'd noted that, it was easy to detect the sparse trail of something dark that lead from (or to) the door, down the hall to the T at the end, and veered left.

"Stay here," Sherlock repeated as he began to cautiously move toward the door and whatever was splattered across the floor.

Molly didn't bother replying, she simply ignored his words and followed closely behind.

Sherlock silently urged the door open just far enough that he could peer inside the room, and then pulled it the rest of the way open to allow Molly to see. "Is that your friend?"

She gasped and rushed forward, dropping to her knees next to the still body sprawled out on the floor next to an overturned exam table and a puddle of more of that dark slimy stuff. "Jarrod!" Molly felt for his pulse and immediately sighed with relief. "He's alive." She quickly bent over to examine him, looking for signs of life-threatening trauma. "Just dazed."

Sherlock bent to examine the puddle of goo and the trail that joined up with the one they'd spotted in the hall. "Do you smell that? Rotting vegetation." He dipped his finger into the mess and brought it to the tip of his tongue. He smacked his lips and grimaced. "What is that taste?"

"It smells like peat, and you're an idiot. Didn't anyone ever tell you not to lick stuff you find on the floor?" Jarrod groaned as he allowed Molly to help him sit up. "What happened?"

Rather than reacting to the insult, Sherlock stood up and moved to the doorway to study the mess in the hall.

"It looks like you got hit pretty hard." Molly delicately sifted her fingers through his hair. "You've already got a bruise forming on your forehead and a bit of a lump back here. You're going to need to see a doctor just to be sure there's nothing worse going on."

Jarrod nodded and grimaced, then finally seemed to realize what was missing from the room. "Someone ran off with the mummy!"

Sherlock shook his head. "Close, but judging from these tracks it would seem that your mummy ran off on his own. Or stumbled off more precisely."

"That's-that is not possible." Molly looked toward Jarrod for confirmation. "Right?"

"Of course not. He's been dead for… a really, really long time. Dead people don't just get up and wander off," Jarrod agreed.

Sherlock looked as if he were planning to argue, but his attention jerked toward the T junction at the end of the hall. "Up. Stand up. Molly, help me get him off the floor. We need to go, right now."

"What-" Her eyes widened as she heard it too. Something was out there. Something that made a wet, squishy, slurping sound as it slowly moved closer. "Time to go, definitely time to go."

She let Sherlock take the majority of Jarrod's weight as they pulled her friend to his feet, then slid his arm over her shoulder to help steer him out of the room.

The wet shuffling was getting louder, and Molly knew it was only a matter of moments before whatever it was stepped into view at the end of the hall.


End file.
